


He found out

by SorrowfulJoy



Category: South Park
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bad Parenting, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Homophobic Language, M/M, Minor Violence, eric is a dick but he still cares, liane is a sweetheart, the cartmans care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21563890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SorrowfulJoy/pseuds/SorrowfulJoy
Summary: "Kyle watched, feeling numb, as Cartman stared for a moment before something seemed to click and cold anger seeped into those mismatched eyes of his.“I’ll kill him.”"-----Kyle's dad finds out that he's gay and doesn't take it to well, the last people he expected to help him are the ones who do
Relationships: Kyle Broflovski/Eric Cartman
Comments: 7
Kudos: 258





	He found out

When Kyle woke up this morning, he wasn’t expecting to end the night like this. But then again, he also wasn’t expecting his dad to go snooping around in his room while he was at school, and he definitely wasn’t expecting him to find his porn magazine that he had hidden under his mattress.

He had come home, expecting to do his homework, eat dinner, and then maybe head over to Stan’s to play video games, but instead he was met with his dad, standing in the living room, openly glaring at him.

“Dad?”

“I found your magazine.” Kyle stared blankly at his dad for moment, wondering what he meant, before it clicked into place and Kyle could literally feel the blood draining from his face.

“Dad I—”

“I don’t want to hear it. You disgust me Kyle. I burned that filth and you’re grounded. From now on you will only have monitored computer use and if I so much as get a hint that you’re…participating in any kind of disgusting behaviour I won’t hesitate to kick you out of this house. I don’t want a faggot under my roof!” His Dad’s voice had gotten progressively louder and his face redder, stepping towards Kyle as he spoke through gritted teeth.

Kyle knew his mum and Ike had to be hearing every word of this, and the fact that neither of them had come to his defence was almost as heart shattering as listening to his dad’s hateful words. But even despite the pain, and his now blurred vision, he felt his familiar Jersey temper kicking in.

“What? Dad that’s insane! I can’t help what I am! I was born like this! I can’t just decide NOT to be gay, it doesn’t work like that!” His dad took another step closer and Kyle felt fear rise inside him despite his anger; his dad had never looked at him like this before, like he was a cockroach under his foot.

“Don’t pull that bullshit on me Kyle! That’s just the excuse people like you use to get away with your sickening acts! Men and women were made to be together, and that’s the way it always has, and always will be!”

“People like me?” Kyle took a step closer, even as his brain was screaming at him not to.

“Faggots! You’re a faggot Kyle! And I don’t want you under my roof unless you get your shit together and start seeing a nice young lady!” Kyle’s eyes widened at that and his mouth ran before his brain could

“I’ll never start seeing a nice young lady because I’m GAY dad! I want to date a nice young MAN” The pain happened before he realised his dad had even swung at him. The sound of Gerald’s fist smacking into Kyle’s face rang out in the silence and Kyle let out a yell of pain as the ring on his dad’s fist cut his cheek open. He stared blankly at the floor where his head had been swung to, still trying to process the fact that his dad had just hit him.

“Get out of my house.” Kyle didn’t move, still trying to understand

“NOW!” Gerald reached out for him, as if he was going to hurt him again, and Kyle’s feet were moving before his brain was. He sped out of the house, tears blinding his vision as he cried.

His dad hated him. His mum didn’t care. He’d been kicked out. He’d been hit. He---

“Oh my!” He barrelled straight into someone, staggering back to look up through his blurred vision.

“Kyle?” It was Liane, looking at him like he had grown another head, and Kyle wondered if she could see the disgusting shame printed across his face.

_You’re a faggot Kyle!_

He couldn’t stop the tears now, and Liane was saying something to him, but he couldn’t hear it past the rushing in his ears and he glanced back at his house. He was still too close. He needed to run. He needed--

“Oh…honey, come on” A soft hand gripped him by the arm, and as he flinched back in his wild state he noticed the corners of Liane’s eyes turn down in a frown.

“Come on, I won’t hurt you, we need to get you cleaned up sweetie” He let Liane pull him towards her house, not having the presence of mind to resist much.

“Maaaaaam, what took---Kyle?” Kyle stared blankly at Cartman as he sat on the sofa, the bigger boy hadn’t been at school today, probably pulling a sicky because they had a test, and he knew he should be more concerned about how he looked right now, and about the tears still dripping down his cheeks, what with Cartman being in the same room as him, but he really didn’t have the energy to care right now.

“Kyle sweetie, sit down, Eric budge over, I’m going to go get some stuff to get you cleaned up, just stay put.” Kyle let himself be pushed down onto the sofa, ignoring Cartman’s wide eyed stare at him, and missing the look Liane shot him as she went into the kitchen.

“Kyle? What the fuck happened?” The red head turned to look at his frenemy and flinched back as he saw Cartman’s hand coming towards him. The brown-haired boy frowned at that, before continuing to reach out anyway, grabbing his chin and turning his face to get a look at the cut on his cheek. Kyle watched, feeling numb, as Cartman stared for a moment before something seemed to click and cold anger seeped into those mismatched eyes of his.

“I’ll kill him.”

“Now Eric sweetie, that’s not very nice.” Kyle almost jumped as Liane re-entered the living room, she had a wet cloth in one hand and an icepack in the other, she knelt down in front of him as Cartman responded.

“Well it also wasn’t very nice of Kyle’s dad to hit him so I think it’s deserved” Kyle’s eyes jumped to Cartman at that, even as Liane pressed forward to wipe the blood from his face

“How’d you know?” He almost winced at how croaky his voice sounded and Cartman surprised him when he reached out to pass him the can of soda he’d been drinking before Liane and Kyle had burst in, he took it without thought and drank, not noticing Cartman’s small frown.

Usually Kyle would have at least put up a token protest at sharing a drink with Cartman.

“That stupid ring he wears, it left a mark on your face.”

Oh, well, that makes sense.

“Why’d he hit you?” Kyle felt his heart jump into his throat at those words, and he shot a scared look at Cartman without even meaning to

“Eric!” But Cartman was too busy looking at Kyle with wide eyes to acknowledge his mum scolding him. He could count on one hand the amount of times he’s seen Kyle look this scared of something.

“I…”

“You don’t have to tell us sweetie, it’s fine”

“Either you tell me, or I go over there and beat it out of your dad”

“You will do no such thing Eric” Liane had gotten a lot firmer with Cartman over the years, but Kyle knew the bigger boy was not joking by the look in his eyes

“He uh...he found out…” He couldn’t finish, what if he said it and Liane and Cartman reacted the same way? What if they kicked him out too? He didn’t think he could handle it…he could always go to Stan’s, Stan knew, but for some reason he found himself wanting to stay right here, with Liane’s soft voice and Cartman’s oddly protective actions

“He found out what?” Cartman’s voice was soft and gentle, something that almost shocked Kyle into silence again

“I….he found out….hefoundoutthatI’mgay” He blurted it out, squeezing his eyes shut so he didn’t have to see the disgusted looks on the faces, the same one his dad had worn as he had---

“That’s it? He hit you for that? That motherfucker” Kyle felt weight leave the sofa and he opened his eyes to see Cartman pacing back and forth, eyes wild with fury

“Eric…”

“No mum you know that’s bullshit! That’s a goddamn hate crime! How about I go over there and punch him in the face for being straight huh?”

“You…you don’t think I’m gross?” Kyle didn’t mean to say it, he didn’t mean to let his insecurities out like that, but Cartman looked so mad at his dad, as mad as Kyle had been before he’d been punched. Liane let out a soft noise, something that sounded almost like pity, and Cartman stopped pacing immediately, looking at Kyle with an undecipherable look in his eyes

“I’m going to make some hot cocoa, it’ll help you feel better” She looks at Kyle as she says this, getting up to glance at her son before heading back into the kitchen. Cartman is still looking at him silently and Kyle audibly swallows before the bigger boy finally speaks

“Gross? For being a Jew? Definitely. For being ginger and a jersey? Yeah most certainly. For being gay? No fucking way. There’s nothing wrong with being gay Kyle, you know that though.” Despite the backhanded compliment, Kyle felt something resembling a smile slip onto his face and the fog that had been clouding his mind began to fade.

Somehow, Cartman using the usual three j’s insult made him feel better than anything else had so far.

“Yeah...I guess I do know that…”

“You do, you just forgot for a moment because your fuckhead of a dad hit you like the asshole that he is.” Kyle reached up to poke at his cheek at that and winced at the pain that followed, he felt a dip in the sofa as Cartman sat back down beside him and he glanced at the bigger boy

“I can kill him if you want. I know how to get away with murder.” Despite his frayed mental state, Kyle chuckled, feeling like he was starting to come back to himself now

“Yeah I’m well aware fatass.” Cartman smiled wide at the usual insult, instead of going off on one like he normally would

“I’m serious though Kahl, I’d do it” Kyle smiled at him, feeling something warm bloom in his chest, he should not be feeling so happy that Cartman is willing to murder his dad for him, that’s not a thing that normal people get happy about

“Thanks, but no thanks”

“Come on, you could probably get some money out of his inheritance or something” Kyle scoffed at that

“Yeah he’s probably already written me out of it, gonna give it all to Mum and Ike”

“Where was your bitch of a mum anyway? I thought she would have gone ballistic on him for hitting you” Kyle frowned as the warm feeling started to fade

“She was in the house somewhere, probably hiding from her disappointment of a son. There’s no way she didn’t hear the shouting or the sound of me getting hit.”

Silence fell for a moment before Cartman spoke softly.

“I could kill her too?” Despite himself, Kyle felt a smirk pull on his lips

“No killing anyone Eric.” Liane re-entered, balancing three mugs in her two hands, and Cartman got up to grab two off of her.

“Geez Mum be careful with those!” Kyle smiled a little at the change in Cartman’s behaviour, sure he acted like he was doing it to berate her, he had his stupid pride after all, but now he actually helped Liane whereas in the past he would have just stayed on the sofa and let her struggle. 

He’d gotten a lot nicer to his mum after the car accident she was in a few years ago, apparently the threat of her almost dying was enough to shake him out of his self-entitled behaviour towards her.

Kyle took the offered cocoa with a murmured thanks, his thoughts immediately falling back to his dad in the momentary silence. Shit, what was he gonna do? He was technically homeless now. Kicked out for being gay.

“Mum, do we still have that blow up bed in the basement?” Kyle looked up with wide eyes as Liane smiled and nodded

“Cool, I can pull it out and we could set it up in my room?” Kyle looked between them both as Liane nodded again, speaking in that soft voice of hers

“I’ve got some spare blankets down there too” They then both looked towards him, Liane with a gentle smile and Cartman with a cocked eyebrow

“You…you’d let me stay here tonight?” Cartman scoffed at that while Liane just smiled

“Well duh, you think we’d let you sleep on the streets and get stabbed by a hobo or something?” Kyle looked at Liane, Cartman had already reassured him that being gay was fine, but did his mum think the same? She had left the room almost immediately after he had said it.

“You’re…okay with me staying here?” He didn’t say it, but it was clear in his tone and Liane’s eyes softened again before she put her drink down and came over to him, Kyle tensed up, but Liane pulled him into a hug.

Her perfume smelt really nice and Kyle had to physically blink back tears at how gently she was hugging him and how, motherly it felt. He didn’t even know if his own mum would ever hug him again now.

“She’s already got one gay boy living under her roof anyway Kahl, I don’t think she minds.” Liane pulled out of the hug with the brightest smile on her face directed to Cartman, and Kyle saw the way his frenemy’s eyes lit up even as his own widened in shock

“Wait, you’re gay?” Cartman looked to him and nodded

“And you never told me?” Cartman gives him a pointed look then, and Kyle feels himself blush

“Oh yeah….right, sorry, I just sorta assumed you’d, uh.”

“Take it like your dad did? Yeah, that’s kinda why I didn’t tell you either jew, Kenny knows though.” Kyle smiled slightly, of course Kenny knew

“Yeah, Stan knows about me.” Cartman looked at him quietly for a moment before speaking

“Wanna invite them over to play games?” Kyle could see the careful look in the other boys’ eyes, knowing that Cartman wasn’t sure yet if Kyle could handle telling the others, but hey, he knew he’d have to tell them sooner or later, and it was better to hear it from Kyle then from either of his parents if his friends went knocking on his door for him, so Kyle smiled

“Sure.” Cartman looked to his mum and she waved a hand at him with that same smile she had given him earlier

“Go ahead honey, I’ll be upstairs if you need me.” She turned to head up the stairs then but stopped to turn and smile at Kyle

“Oh Kyle? You can stay as long as you need to sweetie, it’s no problem at all” Kyle felt himself once again blinking back tears – stupid emotions – but he managed to get out a very wobbly nod and a thanks as Liane headed upstairs

\-----

By the time the doorbell rang, Kyle and Cartman had managed to drag the blow-up bed upstairs, set it up and had just booted up the xbox, Cartman caught the almost fearful glance Kyle sent towards the door but before he could go open it himself the red-head had straightened up with a determined look on his face and marched over like a man on a mission.

Cartman felt the small smile slip onto his face and had to try and mentally shake away the warmth that blossomed in his chest at the sight. He’d been reminding himself for the past half an hour that just because he now knew that Kyle was gay it didn’t mean that he would ever return the brunette’s feelings for him.

Yeah, Eric Theodore Cartman, the resident bigot, was gay for a ginger, jersey, jew. As a kid he’d been able to write off his weird obsession with Kyle as hatred, but, as he got older and hit puberty, well, let’s just say that his dick decided to have other ideas.

Maybe if it had just been lust, he could have written it off as a weird, domination fantasy type thing and move on, but no, more and more often he’d been finding himself happy to see Kyle happy, or angry when someone made Kyle upset, yeah of course he still got a massive kick out of pissing the red head off – he was so hot when he was mad – but it was different now and his pranks were never as harmful as the ones he pulled when he was younger.

Though, every time he glanced at Kyle’s bruised and cut cheek, he considered maybe going back to his old ways for just one more ‘prank’ on Kyle’s dad.

“Hey guys” Cartman was shaken out of his musings at Kyle’s reserved voice and he glanced up to see both Kenny and Stan at the door

“Hey Ky---What happened to your face man?” Stan was the first to react, well, the first to react outwardly, Cartman knew Kenny well enough to see he had caught onto the injury immediately but had decided to wisely keep his mouth shut.

“Uhh” Cartman sighed at Kyle’s sudden freeze up and decided to take pity on him

“Ey! You’re letting the cold in, shut the damn door already!” Kenny smirked at Cartman’s outburst, obviously seeing right through him like the blonde bastard always did, and he swanned past Kyle and Stan and plopped himself down on the sofa, Stan stayed where he was, frowning at Kyle and Cartman sent him a glare

“Hippie get your ass in here or I’m making you pay my heating bill” Stan’s eyes flew to his and he glared at the brunette as he walked into the house, Kyle shutting the door behind him and following him into the living room

“Fuck off fatass, Kyle seriously what happened? Did you get in a fight after school or something?” Cartman rolled his eyes, of course Stan would be too stupid to notice the obvious ring mark.

“Uhh…you could say that?” Kyle awkwardly rubbed his neck, clearly struggling with telling Kenny and Stan

“With who? Please tell me they look worse than you” Stan was frowning at Kyle as he spoke and Cartman was about to be Kyle’s hero for the, what, fifth time today? When Kenny pulled down his hood and spoke, careful blue eyes trained on Kyle

“Ky, why did your dad hit you?” Both Kyle and Stan’s eyes flew to look at Kenny, one panicked and the other confused, and Cartman hid his smile.

Him and Kenny were super best friends for a reason after all. Kenny wasn’t as stupid as everyone thought he was, and his bluntness was on a similar level to Cartman’s own.

“What? Kenny what are you talking about?” Kenny motioned to Kyle’s bruise

“Ring mark on his face, his Dad is an idiot to go around hitting people when he wears a branded ring”

“He’s an idiot for hitting him at all.” Cartman’s voice came out as a low, dark murmur, and Kenny sent a look at him, it was supposed to be one of his ‘Cartman don’t kill anyone’ looks, but the brunette could see the amusement and darkness lurking in those blue eyes.

He knew if he was going to be burying Gerald’s body later Kenny would help him.

“Kyle your dad did that?! Why?” Kyle’s eyes went from Stan to Kenny then, and, remembering what Cartman had said about Kenny knowing that he was gay, decided he was safe to say it, though he still struggled around the words.

“He, uh, he found out…..thatI’mgay” Cartman watched Kenny’s eyes harden like ice as the blonde took that in, and Stan let out a small gasp

“Shit…man are you alright?” Stan immediately pulled Kyle into a hug, and Cartman tried to ignore the sudden jealously that bloomed in his chest

“Yeah..I…no? I don’t know.”

“Do you..do you need a place to stay?” Stan pulled back from the hug to look Kyle in the eyes, and Cartman felt his fingers twitch with how close the other two were

He missed the eye roll that Kenny sent his way before the blonde spoke

“I would offer to kill him for you, but I think Eric’s probably already beaten me to it.” Stan let go off Kyle and turned to frown at Kenny

“Why would Cartman kill Kyle’s dad?” Cartman looked at Stan and made a split second decision in that moment. If Kyle could do it then so could he.

“Because I’m gay too and I don’t appreciate Gerald carrying out a hate crime on one of my people.” Kyle smirked then and looked at him, and Cartman mentally fist-pumped at the amusement in Kyle’s eyes

“Oh, so I’m one of your people now?”

“Of course Kahl, us gays gotta stick together, you never know what kind of bigots could be out there” Both Kenny and Kyle rolled their eyes in sync, while Stan was still staring at him with something akin to shock

“Wait….Cartman you’re gay?” Cartman looked to Stan, feeling his hackles raise slightly

“Yeah, got a problem with that hippie?”

“What? No of course not! Just….I didn’t expect it from you is all!”

“Really? You didn’t expect, cross-dressing, flamboyant, puts on a show and dance every chance he gets Eric Cartman to be gay?” Kenny’s voice was thick with sarcasm and Cartman elbowed his friend

“Ey! Don’t be stereotypical Kinny!” Another eyeroll at that

“No, I just mean, like, you always made fun of gay people, and like I just thought…”

“It’s called being closeted Stan, get over it already” Kyle was watching them all with a small smile and Stan sighed, obviously irritated with Cartman – but that was nothing new – and turned back to his super best friend.

“Sorry dude, like I said, do you need a place to stay?” Cartman fully expected Kyle to jump on the chance, he knew they had already set up the bed and stuff, but he also knew Kyle would probably much rather stay at Stan’s than here at Cartman’s.

“Uhh, actually Cartman and Liane already offered for me to stay here, but thanks Stan.” Both Cartman and Stan looked at Kyle with shock then, a warmth blooming in the brunette’s chest that he had no chance of ignoring this time.

Kyle was picking him? Over his super best friend?

“You’d rather stay here?” Cartman didn’t even have room for a snarky response to Stan’s comment, still too surprised himself

“Yeah I mean, it’s just that Liane already knows, about me, uh, being, gay. And your parents don’t and I’m not sure how they’d react so…” Kyle trailed off, once again rubbing the back of his neck and Stan seemed to collect himself before nodding

“Oh…oh yeah that makes sense, okay, well, the offer’s still there if you change your mind”

“Thanks buddy” Kyle pulled Stan into another hug then, and Kenny clapped his hands together

“Now that that’s settled, I realllyyy want to shoot some zombies in the head, left for dead?” Cartman smiled at that idea, going over to get the disc out

“Yeahhh!” He heard the two boys pull away from their hug and spoke without hesitation

“Kahl if you steal my seat I’ll shit on your pillow tonight”

“Ewwww dude!” Cartman ignored Stan and put the disc on, turning around to see Kyle sat in HIS seat smirking at him

“Jokes on you fatass, we’re sharing a room so if you shit on my pillow, I’ll shit on yours” Cartman had to ignore his reaction to Kyle, sitting on his sofa, smirking at him with a hand on his chin.

He just wanted to pin him down to that sofa and do terribly beautiful things to him.

Kenny rolled his eyes at the dumb-struck look on Eric’s face – he knew his friend had a big fat crush on Kyle, how could he not? - and pushed himself off the sofa to sit beside Stan on the floor

“There, now stop arguing about shitting on pillows and let’s get this game started, I pick Zoey!”

“You just want to jiggle her boobs and zoom the camera in you perv” Kenny smirked at Stan and winked

“You know it baby”

Eric rolled his eyes at Kenny’s usual perverted ways and sat himself beside Kyle on the sofa. He didn’t miss the way Kyle leaned into him slightly as the game started; his leg brushing against his softly.

He snuck a glance at Kyle as the ginger laughed at Kenny getting pounced on by a hunter and felt his cheeks heat up at how beautiful the boy sitting beside him was when his green eyes were lit up with amusement.

He also remembered how heart breaking those same green eyes looked void of emotion and vowed that he would give Gerald Broflovski what he deserved before the week was out.

**Author's Note:**

> Might do another chapter of potential smut if I have time to get around to it ;)


End file.
